When William Henry Broad died in 1919 after his service in the First World War, debates over the circumstances of his death continued for nearly one hundred years. William Henry Broad was born in 1894 in Seaford, East Sussex to Mary and Henry Broad, though his father re-married in 1906 to Jessica Amelia Thornley. Following the outbreak of […]
At the end of the First World War the bodies of hundreds of thousands of British soldiers did not return home. Many other men who had been wounded and returned to Britain would also lose their lives and be buried in their country. At the outbreak of the First World War any plans or consideration for how […]
As a professional archaeologist, I manage the Historic Environment Record (HER) which is a database recording the known archaeological sites, finds and historic buildings in East Sussex and Brighton and Hove. A large proportion of my time is spent recording and mapping data of sites on archaeological and historical importance in the local area. I am […]
I was a late addition to the project team, joining in November 2015, 18 months after the website launched. I studied History at the University of Sussex, so I was really excited when I found out that part of my new role would be working on a project to commemorate WW1. WW1 was, however, one area […]
In 1916 Amelia Joel Mihlenstedt found herself under arrest by the British Government, accused of being a spy. This story was researched and submitted by Clare Woolger, a descendant of Amelia Mihlenstedt, who lives in East Sussex. The Home Office form, pictured below, relates to Amelia Joel born around 1847. Neither myself nor others who have researched the […]
When refugees from Belgian began arriving in Britain during the First World War, some British women prepared to help the youngest amongst them. From the opening days of the Great War in August 1914, the Belgians were able to claim the unenviable status of the first mass civilian casualties and dislocated people of the war on […]
Did you know that the longest running battle of the First World War began on 21st February 1916? The battle between the French and Germany armies near the fortress city of Verdun lasted for nearly 10 months during 1916 and, by its conclusion, had resulted in over 700,000 casualties. The Fortress City Situated to the […]
Homosexuality was illegal during WW1, and remained so up until 1967. As any evidence of homosexual acts between men resulted in corporal punishment or two years imprisonment, records of experiences are sparse. Although societal norms forbid homosexual acts between women, what were referred to as ‘acts of gross indecency’, were never made illegal. This story […]
‘Then and Now’ images Kieron Pelling has created a series of images especially for the East Sussex World War 1 website which overlay original photos taken during the period 1914 to 1919 with contemporary photos taken in the same place. The latest in this wonderful series, called ‘Then and Now’, can be seen in the […]
During the First World War, the small village of Wivelsfield played host to the first branch of the Women’s Institute (WI) in East Sussex. The Women’s Institute movement originally began in Ontario, Canada at the end of the 19th century. From here they rapidly spread out across the rest of the country. The aim of […]
